Shaft-bearing



(No' Mom.)

A. H. REID SHAFT BEARING.

No. 499,752. Patented June20, 1893.

v/ /////a M v m: NoRRvs FE zns co, PHOYO-LITHQ. WASHINGTO NITED STATES ALBAN H. REID, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

SHAFT-BEARING.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 499,752, dated June 20, 1893.

Application filed February 16, 1893- fierial No. 462,565- (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Beit known that I, ALBAN H. REID, of Philadelphia, county of Philadelphia, and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Bearings for Shafts and Pulleys, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to bearings for shafts or pulleys adapted to be driven by endless bands or belts, and is designed to admit of the immediate application of a new belt in the event of the breakage of the old one without the necessity of detaching the parts of the bearing.

My invention is particularly, though not necessarily, applicable to machines containing a vertical rotating shaft driven by an endless band receiving motion from any suitable source, such an arrangement of parts being embodied for instance in centrifugal creamers of the well known De Laval type. As ordinarilyconstructed this machine comprises a vertical rotating shaft driving at its upper end a centrifugally acting separating device and mounted at its lower end in two journal boxes located one above the other with a space between them within which the driving pulley is located, the lower box being connected to the base of the frame, and the driving band extending around the pulley within a recess between the same and the frame. It is obvious that in the event of the breakage of the endless driving belt, in order to replace the same by a new one, it will be necessary to detach the parts of the machine, remove the shaft and pulley, insert the hand through the space between the journal boxes, and again fix the shaft and pulley in position. To avoid the trouble and annoyance attendant upon the detachment of the parts of the machine in this manner, I so sustain the lower journal that an uninterrupted passage or space will be left between the same and the frame of the machine to the end that a new band may be passed through said passage and around the driving pulley, without the necessity of removing any part of the machine.

The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings and description as applied to the De Laval centrifugal creamer, but it is to be distinctly understood that its application is not to be confined in this connection,

but that it may be employed in other connections provided its operation and functions are substantially similar to those described.

In the accompanying drawings,-Figure 1 is a perspective view of a centrifugal creamer having my invention embodied therein. Fig. 2 is a horizontal section on the line a-a.

In the drawings,1, represents a frame comprising a standard 2, and a base 3, the standard sustaining at its upper end a vessel 4, within which is mounted the usual rotating centrifugally acting separating device.

5, represents a vertical rotating shaft adapted at its upper end to give motion to the operative parts of the machine and which is mounted near its center in a bearing 6, fixed to the standard, and near its lower end in two journal boxes 7, and 8, the latter located vertically beneath the former a slight distance from the same. The lower journal box 8, is formed in the lower end of a downwardly extending arm 9 projecting from the standard and is so sustained that an uninterrupted passage or space is left between the journal box and the frame of the machine.

lVithin the space between the journal boxes 7 and 8, is located a pulley 10, which is fixed to the driving shaft, and which is driven by an endless belt 11, from a motor 12, or from any other appropriate source of power.

From the foregoing description it will be seen that in the event of the breakage of the endless driving belt, in order to replace the same by a new one, it will be necessary simply to pass one end of the belt within the passage between the lower journal box and the frame of the machine, and around the driving pulley so that practically no time will be lost in the operation of the machine, and no occasion will exist for detaching the parts of the machine as there would he were the lower j ournalbox sustained by the base of the frame as has heretofore been the custom.

In certain cases I prefer to employ a belttightener consisting of a pulley 13, mounted on the upper end of a vertical crank arm 14, adj ustably connected to the base of the frame by a set-screw 15, so that the pulley may be moved laterally to exert a greater or'less degree of pressure on the belt as the case may be.

In order that the belt when subjected to the action of this tightener may be permitted to extend obliquely from the driving pulley to the motor, 1 form the side of the vertical arm with an inclined face as shown in Fig. 2.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is- In a centrifugal creamer the combination of the standard provided with a shaft bearing, the rotary shaft mounted in said bearing and driving at its end the centrifugally acting separating mechanism, the bearing for the end of the shaft, the bracket arm projecting from the standard and sustaining said 

